@Ish_basic: What people fail to realize is that this kind of behavior is ultimately severing the very chain of communication that the internet is suppose to build between game creators and their fans/userbase. As was pointed out before, it's leading to people leaving the industry altogether...and on top of that, if I'm a game dev looking for some constructive feedback and all I'm getting is "THIS GAME SUCKS" and "MAKE IT MORE LIKE THIS", then what am I going to do? Make the game I want to for all those who apparently don't have any issues with it.

The first and most used barometer is sales. If a game sells a million copies, I'd be hard pressed to see any reason to listen to a bunch of unwashed assholes' whining and complaining, because at the end of the sound that's made at the register will always trump the incessant bitching. From there you go into user feedback, and sadly in most cases you don't get much in terms of constructive feedback, so what's the point?

Lemme use Saints Row as example. It was made to rival GTA, but by the time SR2 came along, people complained that it was a GTA clone, so Volition went back to the drawing board any completely revamped the series to it's over-the-top iteration we now know...and what do the whiners do then? Still whine, now that the series is too unlike GTA. WTF? Suddenly, SR2 which was once a "crappy GTA clone" is the best game in the series, according to the vocal minority, whereas SR3 and 4 sold better commercially AND received better reviews.

Pretty soon, it's going to go back to the days where devs and publishers DIDN'T listen to the gamers. What reason do they have to when those who are talking have nothing constructive to say?

I'm not gonna lie, the XBone has some real innovations inside of it from the casual/entertainment/social standpoint. People's problems however is that it seems as if they didn't make the console with gamers as their first priority. I suppose MS thought they were gonna just jump on board just because it's an XBOX. It's awesome technology, no doubt about it...but MS crippled themselves by going the wrong direction in terms of their marketing strategy.

Oh Vargion, sweet Vargion...we hardly knew thee.

I think it's important to note that most of the time (ie, ALL of it) GOTY awards go to the games that are among the most popular AND highest rated titles of that given year, so to all of you who love your obscure, lesser known titles, that's nice and all but when it gets down to the brass taxes, it's going to be one of the three listed games in the OP that wins the award. What one or two or twenty "counter cultured" opinions say on the matter is irrelevant.

That being said, TLOU has the most weight in terms of lasting effect. The story from start to finish is tragic and gripping and is the right way to tell a narrative story through the guise of a video game, in my opinion...something that Naughty Dog's grown more and more adept at doing. Just wish that the 360 could get their hands on it to see what it's all about, they missed a class there. GTA is gonna do what GTA does, which is excellent in it's own right, but it's been done before. Done right, yes...but still done before. And Bioshock Infinite is a bit too pretentious for my tastes.

It's the game with the best overall experience that should win it, and TLOU is just that.

Mercifully...Gamespot's in the process of better policing that kind of conduct anyway, which is hopefully gonna make the experience and the discussions a whole lot more meaningful. Sure there will still be some whiners and complainers and immature idiots, but we'll be better able to weed them out.

I too was looking for a few new outlets to discuss games while at work, and I've found one or two before deciding to go ahead and take the plunge and rejoin Gamespot. Seems like things are getting better around here slowly so we'll see what happens. But this whole crying about the GTA Stimulus...man that got my blood boiling. They (Rockstar) didn't have to do anything as far as compensating anyone aside from those who bought GTA$ and lost it, but they're giving everyone a nice payout as a make-good, and people STILL complain about that?

I need to make an app that allows me to punch people through their screens by just putting my fist on mine over their post/comment. Some people just need a fuckin' slap.

Finally a get rich quick scheme that actually is in the game's design!!! Gonna have to try this.